Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Reviving extinct DNA
For the first time, scientists have resurrected a piece of DNA from an extinct animal — the Tasmanian tiger. The researchers engineered mice with a piece of the long-gone marsupial's DNA that turns on a collagen gene in cartilage-producing cells.
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- Physics
Catching the cell in action
A light microscope with high resolution may enable scientists to view the 3-D structures within living cells.
- Life
Sepsis buster
The Ashwell receptor, a sugar-binding protein on liver cells, helps fight sepsis by clearing blood-clotting factors. The discovery clears up years of mystery surrounding the receptor’s function.
- Earth
Froggie Needs a Name – and Help
To help raise awareness about the plight of frogs and toads, which are disappearing globally, Amphibian Ark is selling formal naming rights to an unusual frog.
- Life
Protective protein
Discovering how bacteria defend themselves from foreign DNA might improve techniques for using microbes as little factories to make human proteins.
- Animals
Wild innovation
Researchers have published a rare description of a wild chimpanzee devising and modifying a novel form of tool use.
- Animals
Polar bears listed
Polar bear declared "threatened," but Secretary limits decision's impact.
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- Life
Identifying viable embryos
New genetic tests to distinguish viable from nonviable embryos may help eliminate risky multiple births from fertility procedures.
- Tech
The flap on dragonfly flight
New experiments have revealed an aerodynamic trick that dragonflies use to fly efficiently — a trick that engineers could exploit to improve the energy efficiency of small aerial vehicles with a similar design.
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